For the adults on GAG, where were you 20 years ago today?

[KrakenAttackin]

I was a pilot with a small island flying service. I wasn't at work yet and was pressing a shirt in front of the TV when the first and second planes hit.

To the liberals, do you even give a fuck about Sept. 11th?

Updates

+1 y

I remember when we were allowed to fly again, seeing Toledo based ANG F-16's airborne with live ordnance (Sidewinders and AMRAAM's).

The US was super busy deploying forces all over the world and the German's were gracious enough to loan an E-3 Sentry (AWACS) to help patrol US domestic airspace, which was the first time a foreign power has ever assisted with Combat Air Patrol over the U. S. When the French President said "today we are all Americans", I cried my eyes out.

[MrOracle]

I was working in IT for a big bank, and the day before (Monday, 9/10/2001) was our first day in a new building, having combined 3 separate IT departments into one and moving 2 of them from San Francisco to Oakland. I'd worked 12 hours that Monday, and my shift on Tuesday didn't start until 11am. My brother was living with me then, and was working overnight security, getting off at 6am. He'd heard about the first plane hitting on the radio, and he came through the front door and hollered my name in a tone that had me instantly awake and ready to respond to an emergency. I had NO IDEA what that might be - house on fire? friend in a car crash? - but he told me about the plane impact and some speculation that it might be a terrorist attack.

We turned on the TV, and about 30 seconds later, the second plane hit, live on TV. I knew right then that it was a very serious attack. I grabbed my go-bag, threw it in the trunk of my car, jumped in the shower, hit the gas station to top off my tank, and got into work a few hours early.

Remember that we'd just moved into 4 floors of this building the day before. My department was the only department that had TVs - we had 2 of them to display service stats on - and we had no cable, so we couldn't get the news. My EVP came directly over to me (5 levels below him in the org chart) and asked me why we didn't have news, and we'd told him we'd asked for cable but was denied. He asked if there was any way to get TV, and I told him we could get an antenna and some cable and get local TV. He handed me his credit card, and luckily we had a Radio Shack on our block, so I had the parts back in the building in 10 minutes, and 5 minutes later, we were watching the news. I'm sure every employee in the building - including many who didn't work at our company - stopped by our department to watch the news that day, as we had the only working TVs in the entire 10-story building. We got cable about a week later.

I was also put on an emergency prep committee, after talking to the EVP about the obvious lack of an emergency safety and recovery plan. It was very instructive to learn how little anyone had thought about that, and I ended up making lots of recommendations that got adopted.

Obviously, on the West Coast, there was no direct involvement in anything that happened in the East. We didn't directly suffer aside from the folks who lost family on the planes. But it was an eye-opening event for a lot of people.

[nightdrot]

In my case, I was living in northern Virginia and working in Washington, DC. Thus, I got an almost first hand view.

My boss came in an told me that a plane had hit one of the twin towers. We went into his office and watched television. We saw the other tower hit. Then we continued to watch when a reporter came on to say the Pentagon had been hit.

It was funny, we continued to watch the television - even though we were in a 7 story building with a view over to the Potomac and the Pentagon. Suddenly it hit me and I looked out the window and saw the flames pouring out of the Pentagon on the opposite side from our vantage point.

My boss said, "Oh my God!"

So we watched for a while and then they ordered us to evacuate the building. I opted to remain, figuring that the traffic would be awful. I waited till about 2 or 3 then went down to the garage and got my car.

The streets were empty and I was able to make the ride home in only 30 minutes, driving right past the Pentagon - on Rt 110 - on my way. (The damage was on the opposite side.)

It was a stunning day, but in a strange way I was not surprised. I had dealt with terrorism and unconventional warfare issues over the course of my career and knew such an attack was a theoretical possibility. So I found myself more impressed by the tactics and it only hit home later the lives that had been lost.

One of those lives, it turned out, was the husband of a friend of mine. That suddenly made it less surreal and more concrete.

[Mia-Wallace]

I was 7. Playing around with a friend in Bavarian countryside as our moms walked and talked together. It was a fun day. My dad came home that night and talked to my mom. He was in Bundestag back then. He looked pretty tense. My mom told me about it the next day. I just asked if it was dangerous for my father. She said no, and I was like "okay then...".

It did have an impact on my family 12-14 years later when ISIS was killing across Europe. I was constantly worried about them. I do care.

[TrueConfection]

I was getting ready to go to work (west coast). My best friend called and I turned on the T. V. My first thought was that the aging ATC system finally failed. That's when I saw the 2nd plane fly into the towers. I had friends and family there. Lost 2 friends that were firemen.

[KrakenAttackin]

My uncle used to manage college endowments. He regularly called and visited the people at Cantor Fitzgerald. On 9/11 almost the entire form of Cantor Fitzgerald ceased to exist. I remember my uncle weaping.

[TrueConfection]

It's heart wrenching. I had 2 friends that worked in an office in one of the towers. They were a couple and called out sick that day because they spent the night together and didn't feel like going to work.

[KrakenAttackin]

@TrueConfection. Lucky for them. I am amazed that almost everyone who was an adult during 9/11 had some kind of connection to the event.

What a horrible and strange time. I remember seeing zero air traffic in the sky. I had interviewed and was hired by American Airlines on Sept. 8th 2001, Sept 13 we were told our classes were canceled. A bummer for sure but it paled by comparison to what the country as a whole was going through.

I also remember driving on the highway and seeing an older fellow on an overpass just waving a large America flag! Everyone who drove by him honked and waved, we all needed that simple act.

[TrueConfection]

The firemen I knew were brothers. One was a former co-worker of mine from when I lived in Philly. He and his brother became NYC firefighters before I moved out west.

I also had a childhood friend who lived very close to the towers and she saw the bodies falling.

It's a small world.

[OlderAndWiser]

I was in my car, driving to work, when I heard the first radio news report of a place hitting the World Trade Center. I initially did not realize the significance of what had happened, continued on to work, and then started watching live television coverage and saw the second plane strike.

Second question obviously does not apply to me.

[Григорий]

I wasn’t alive yet however my father was in the city that day, he was running late to work because of delays on the subway system from grand central. He ended up taking the E subway (which terminates under the towers and then heads out to Long Island). He got off at his stop and arrived at work, he heard on the subway that a plane had hit the tower so he took out his portable tv that was a tiny black and white thing he kept in his drawer. He turned on the news and a couple guys came into his office to check out what he was watching. They all watched the tv for a bit while the news played. Eventually, my father decided he was going to look for himself. He worked at bear sterns at the time and their office was at 51st and Lexington ave. He headed over to 5th ave and he saw the entire four lane road full of FD vehicles heading south towards the towers. (The service road surrounding the island was shut down so many FD vehicles traveled on 5th ave as it’s a major road). My father can vividly remember locking eyes with one of the firemen in a ladder truck. He remembers the grim look in his face, and the rest of the firemen in the truck. He had never seen firemen not happy and joking around. He said it was a look of death.


When standing on 5th ave and you look south you could directly see the towers, the firemen were able to see the massive blaze in the north tower. (This was around 9:00 am). My father and the firemen watched as the second plane hit the south tower at 9:03 am.


He remembers the day and the days after vividly, I’ll add more later and I’ll ask him any questions that y’all have.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Григорий. Great recanting of your Dad's experience. Also, just hearing "Bear Stearns" brought me back in time as well as 9/11.

[Григорий]

Yeah, bear stearns brings be back too. I was young but I went with him to the office on one of those being your kids to work day. I had a good time. I remember the old ceo of the company they called him ace, he performed magic tricks for all the kids.

A lot of people remember bear, shame that it fell.

[Григорий]

Brings me back too*

[RolandCuthbert]

You ask "liberals" do we care about 9/11?

Dude, you need counseling bad.

I was driving to work listening to Mancow in the Morning. He was screaming about WWIII. So I just thought it was a Mancow gag. . . I switched to an R&B station, then I knew the attack was real.

As for your little quip, you only care about 9/11, the thousands of people who died, the families who suffered, the people who were digging through the rubble to find survivors, in as far as it goes to support your weird, strange, extremist, fruitcake politics.

It was liberals leading the fight to compensate survivors. It was liberals leading the fight to take care of first responders who were dying from being exposed to the toxic environment at ground zero. They are still dying today. And your brood told them to eat shit and die.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/hZyTZFC_rAAhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/HT5FTrIZN-E

[CasaNorba]

I was in the auditorium of my school when it happened. the principle was discussing the schools new rules, dress codes etc.

when we when to our classes I remember class was interrupted to informed us what was going on. it wasn't until the next class that I officially found out because the teacher had the news going on and boy was it disturbing. I knew what the Pentagon was but I never knew The Twin Tower's real name was The World Trade Center. which it made it more disturbing me having gone to a field trip to the Statue of Liberty 2 years prior to that hell of a day

[meetkitty123]

I was a teen in school. I'll elaborate more momentarily in the reply section... I need to gather my thoughts. 🇺🇸

[meetkitty123]

I was in art class. It was a very unrestricted class where we were free to do as please so long as we worked on something creative. We could lay stand or sit on the floor laugh talk dance or joke. The teacher didn't care as long as we "freed our creativity" Every day the radio played in her class on a Joking comedian network. That day the comedians on began to speak of a plane crashing into a building at first we took this as their usual jest. We said to ourselves not yet understanding how blind or stupid could you be to not notice a building in front of you. But the men took a Solemn tone. I recall saying to the person next to me "what are they doing. Why are they continuing on about this. Thats not funny." We kids started talking amongst ourselves and quickly we too sobered up as we began to say "OMG this is really happening." The entire class went silent and still. I recall staring in horror at the small black radio. We were silent for a while when the teacher stood straight up and rather concerned asked what's wrong. What's the matter with you guys? I turned to her and pointed to her desk and choked on the words "the radio". I remember seeing the horror creep onto her face first a hand to her mouth another to her chest and then she slowly sat on a random desk gripping the side. I recall feeling so lost. I stepped out the room as a feeling of needing to escape came over me. While in the hall standing near a girl drinking at a water fountain the principal came on the intercom and announce the news. The girl next to me suddenly threw her back against the wall staring at the speaker box gasping her chest whimpering no no no. I recall asking are you ok? She turned to me wide eyes and shaking "NO my parents they work there" she screamed and then ran. 😔 I much later found out her parents didn't make it.

[meetkitty123]

To this day I don't know if what our town did was for the best or if it was stupid. Then sent us all home. Starting with the elementary schools first and ending with the oldest children. They locked down the older school refusing to let any teens running to their cars from leaving. It was bad. Teens fighting with the guards trying to get out wanting to get to the city to find their love ones. We were force to wait. Once the buses rolled in the school doors were unlocked. Over the intercom the principal begged the students not to drive into the city as it was essential to allow emergency vehicles to use the freeways so give aide. I myself was worried about my own cousins and Aunt who I knew worked and went to school blocks from the site. I went home. I got off the bus to find chaos. I'll never forget. ALL the neighborhood children running amuck. Some crying other riding their bikes saying we are under attack. One little boy came up to me and asked if the world was ending. It was bad. I was the oldest and there was no adults in sight. I recall it was hard to think with all the sirens... (as I type this there has been a long on going stream of sirens going on as my town always have the fire trucks and police drive with their sirens on to honor the fallen on this day) I pulled myself together and gather all the kids and took them to my backyard. There was about 11 of them one as young as 4 and the oldest of them was 12. I told her we had to be in charge until the parents got home. I kept all them at my home distracting them with games or helping with homework if they had any. I recall I used all the snacks in the house and cold cut we had in the fridge. I had to cook dinner for them too. Most of the kids didn't leave until after dinner time since the roads were bad with traffic and the parents couldn't get home. It was really late and dark when my own Father arrived to find me still caring for two kids. Eventually their moms came.

[meetkitty123]

I remember it was so sad. My father who wasn't a hugger grabbed me and held me right. But he didn't say anything to me that whole even with the exception that I did a great job today... Which was odd too because he wasn't one to give out compliments... We went to bed not saying anything. In bed everything finally washed over me. I finally got to be what I really was... just a kid. I reached for a teddy which up to that moment had only been decoration and I clung to it. I cried myself to sleep feeling so lost.

[KrakenAttackin]

@meetkitty123. A very sad story, thank you for sharing.

[KrakenAttackin]

@meetkitty123. I am very impressed. It is times of crisis that introduce us to ourselves and it seems you responded with kindness and effectiveness.

[meetkitty123]

Thank you @KrakenAttackin
I very much appreciate your words. The memory makes me teary eye. So many lives lost 😞. I sincerely thank you for this post!

[KrakenAttackin]

@meetkitty123. You are most welcome.

[Pink2000]

I know I’m not as old as some of you but i was probably playing with my toys. I’m very glad I was too young to know what was even going on. It would’ve traumatized me.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Pink2000. Yes, it was traumatic but it also opened our eyes.

[Ez-Bri-Z]

I was asleep. I worked overnights at the time. I was asleep for like an hour when I got a phone call from a high school friend who needed a ride from because the local college closed when it happened. I had no clue what was going on until he told me to turn on the news. I quickly ran to get him and then stayed glued to the news for weeks.

[Juxtapose]

I was in 5th grade math class and just 12 years old. It was a really nice, rich school in the Maine and hearing something like that happen was obviously unheard of.

I didn't understand what this meant, I wasn't sure if I was in danger but at the time I surely did not understand the political ramifications that would result and how thoroughly America would change from then on.

I first learned of tyranny by watching Bush and the media work together in concert to shutdown opposition and invade Iraq.

[Juxtapose]

*in Maine

[Likes2drive]

I was in Queens making deliveries and wondered why I kept seeing volunteer fireman from every town I was traveling to were everywhere , I had no radio in that truck until my job called and said don’t go into Brooklyn and start heading back because a plane flew into the trade center, at first I thought they meant a small plane until I started to talk to the guys I was delivering to and they said what happened, so I delivered what stuff I could in the area and started to head back, when I was in a certain spot I could see the black smoke blowing south above Manhattan where the Towers used to stand , everyone was hysterical, I called my wife at the time to see if she knew and said they hit the Pentagon too , our kids were fine since we lived Far East from there, I remember seeing every entrance heading west on the Long Island expressway was closed when I was on it going east back to the job

[jamesgoldman]

I was 3 think mostly in a playpen whilst my mother had the news on and my father was at work and only found out once he was home

N. b. I know my college is about a mile from a major London airport and their tower was the tallest building in the area back in 2001 so they remained closed for the rest of September that year just in case something could happen

[ManOnFire]

I was at home and we had the TV on. Our mom was shouting that planes were hitting into a building, and we were watching it on the news. As a kid back then I was crying so hard because seeing something like that was truly horrible, something I had never even seen before. You figured that was only ever in movies. I remembered being really scared, especially when we started hearing the jets flying over really loud to either hunt down the planes or were doing air patrol around the capital.

[DJB72]

I was off work sick. A mate had been in the towers the previous week after his meetings were brought forward. They were due to be on 9/11 - which since he was flying over from the UK was a big deal.

I happened to turn the TV on as the news was breaking. I saw the first plane hit and checked I was on a news channel not a movie.

It's our generation's "where where you" moment.

[Alwayreckles93]

I was in at school at that time 3 grade at that time out of no where parents started to check out their kids from school teachers and everyone were confuse hey what is going on.

[spartan55]

I was still asleep actually and my girlfriend at the time called me and woke me tell me what was happening. Never forget it..

[electromagnetic]

I was in my backyard running with scuffed knee caps hoping the street lights don't come on so I can stay out a little longer.

[Exterminatore]

I was living in CA and sleeping with my girlfriend in her bed. My mom called me and woke me up at like 6 am or something and told me to turn on the news.

[Subarugirl]

I was at home with my mom. We didn’t have TV so my uncle called my mother to tell her what was going on.

[zzombie]

I was 2 months old...
I imagine I was doing whatever 2 month old babies do? lol

[Cherry234]

I was at daycare and I was 3 years old. I have no memory of it bc I was too young to remember anything

[J2ohhhhh]

I was in hypermarket with my mom. There was a shop next to the entrance where they sold school stuff like pens and pencils and after the shopping we were gonna exit there and bumped into someone who asked my mom if she knows what just happened.

[Starwitch23]

I was 3, I was learning words and making my mom's life a mess.

[Andres77]

Wearing a parachute waiting for the plane to show up.

[Andres77]

All flights got cancelled so we went back to work to see the news.

[This_Is_My_Opinion8]

I really doubt people don't care about such an atrocity just because their political views differ from yours.
I am with the center left, I am not American and I remember that I was in my grandmother's house.

[KrakenAttackin]

@This_Is_My_Opinion8. The left can rationalise anything.

[This_Is_My_Opinion8]

I get that many people on the left are completely nuts. But surely you don't believe they lack that much humanity that 9/11 doesn't affected them.

[worldscolide]

I was just coming in to work at a computer store and it firm, it was on the television. Boss said we are closed today, handed me a beer, and watched the news as it happened.

[Anonymous]

In 2001 I was living in a little one bedroom house with my girlfriend at the time.
We were crazy in love with each other and we didn't have Tv or internet.

[Browneye57]

I'm pretty sure I was sitting at my desk, looking at the news coverage in disbelief.
Most people reveal they were wondering what was coming next - if they were going to see more carnage.

[Waldoe]

I was getting ready to go to work... I never made it that day or for 3 days after

[Swimmerdude2013]

I was in 2nd grade watching the news on TV in school. We were on complete lockdown in Chicago. Didn't see my dad for 72 hrs since we were one of the targets.

[TonyMetal___86]

I was at home watching tv and zapping the channels when i saw on cnn news that the wtc was on fire...

[Jmmmfi4]

Getting dressed for work... turned the TV on to have something to listen to

[Twalli]

On a bus to The Art Museum, on a bus back to school, hearing about it in my school's library, in class.

[Anonymous]

I was 1 at my grandma's house sitting in a high chair.

[pink_and_inlove]

I was one month old in Queens New york

[JessieBellll]

I was just sitting in living room and saw it on the news.
I honestly couldn't care less about it. America killed far more civilians because of how evil and vengeful they are, yet they criticize Russia for doing the same. They are hypocrites.

[KrakenAttackin]

@jessiebellll. Yeah, fuck you.

[JessieBellll]

Pathetic

[Massageman]

On a treadmill in the office gym.

[Massageman]

The FM radio was playing and the DJs of the program had a habit of doing practical jokes. That what listeners thought this was until they put the studio microphone next to the studio TV to prove it was really happening and not a hoax.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

I was in earth science class in High school and 9/11 was a inside job. Sorry dude but it was.

[KrakenAttackin]

That's pretty silly.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

It's true though man. I'm sorry. Look very hard about what you been told by the government and media to believe and just use your common sense with a open mind.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Hispanic-Cool-Guy. I have seen what people said but the physics of "inside job" peoples arguments don't work. Taking down a building with explosives is no small task and leaves very identifiable evidence.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Explain why there was lots of lava at the scene? Building collapsing doesn't create lava, but explosives do.

Watch with a open mind and then make your conclusion.

https://youtu.be/l0Q5eZhCPuc

[KrakenAttackin]

Explosives do not create lava buddy. Lava is molten rock.

[Exterminatore]

Having been in the military and trained as part of my MOS (job) with explosives there’s no way I believe that was done with explosives.

The lava was the result of a super hot fire. It melted the supports of that building.

Explosions don’t create lava. I’ve worked with ammonium nitrate, dynamite, C4, RDX, Petn, and composition B. Never saw it create lava once.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Exterminatore Plus, with shaped charges there would be copper residue.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

The experts in architecture and scientists and military say otherwise.

[Exterminatore]

That’s not what they say. They say the supports got superheated and gave way causing one floor to collapse and the weight and inertia caused the floors to collapse one on top of another.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Exterminatore Yes, and the mechanical force of the collision stripped away the fire proofing. Makes sense.

[Exterminatore]

@Kracken

Exactly. With an explosion you see debris flying everywhere. It blows into the tiniest of molecules whatever may be at the center and blasts the rest outward.

It doesn’t turn anything molten. That requires heat and pressure. You’d see molten debris with a super hot fire, not an explosion.

Explosives are rated on the RE scale. RE means “relative effectiveness.” The bench mark is dynamite which is at 1.0 on the RE scale. C4 is 1.34 before it’s molded. After it’s molded it looses 40% of its effectiveness. I’ve never heard or seen dynamite turn anything molten. The same with C4 and I have extensive experience with that. In fact C4 and PETN (the explosive in det cord) can be used to cut metal. It won’t be a perfectly smooth cut but it can be used in such a way for field expedient purposes. PETN has the highest RE factor I know of coming in at 1.66. Have used it extensively. Never saw it turn anything to lava. In fact I was trained to use explosives to make booby traps. When you make a booby trap with shrapnel you need to make sure you don’t use too much explosive or it will turn your intended shrapnel to nothing because it will be blown up. It won’t turn it to lava though, it will vaporize it.

[Hangry06]

Being manufactured

[pleasestopthis]

I was in my parents' bed watching TV

[moviedude714]

I was in 8th grade at the time

[Stormdoğan]

I was at my room, playing alone with dolls

[MathysD]

In my really first class

[jimmy2]

Watching 911 on tv in horror

[anylolone]

College.

[Joker_]

I was somewhere